Erion Isai's wiretaps/How millions were stolen from the Erseka municipality

The Mayor of Kolonja, Erion Isai, has been named as a defendant by SPAK, after being accused of favoring the company "A&E Engineering" in several procurement procedures, where according to investigations, the project, the limit fund and the tender criteria were built in the interest of a single company.

Along with Isai, SPAK has sent 15 other people for trial: 7 officials and former officials of the Albanian Road Authority, 7 employees of the Municipality of Kolonjë and the administrator of the company “A&E Engineering”, Entela Çano. The charges are for “Abuse of office”, “Violation of equality of tender participants” and “Forgery of documents”.

According to details from the SPAK file, it turns out that Çano had close ties with Isai, with whom he often communicated via text messages. Isai guided Çano through WhatsApp conversations about tenders, while her company turns out to be the supervisor of many large works carried out almost always by the same construction firms.

At the center of the file is the tender for the construction of the Korçë-Ersekë road, Lot 2, with a limited fund of 2.88 billion lek including VAT.

According to SPAK, the Municipality of Kolonjë requested funding from the Albanian Road Authority for a project that it claimed to have received as a donation. However, the investigation revealed that the project did not exist.

"From the investigative actions and the evidence administered, it has been established that the Municipality of Kolonjë did not have design documentation prepared by it for this facility, although there are official correspondences with the Albanian Road Authority in which the opposite is stated," SPAK's announcement states.

Further, the Prosecution says that the documents were falsified to create the impression that the project had been submitted.

"From the evidence administered, supported also by the graphic expertise of the writing and signing of the document, it has resulted that the working group of the Municipality of Kolonjë, composed of citizens Erjon Cenko and Engjëll Dine, in collaboration with citizen Entela Çano, have falsified the minutes of the acceptance of the project by the Municipality of Kolonjë, while it turns out that there was no project," SPAK declares.
But according to the Prosecution, not only the project was manipulated. The tender limit fund was also calculated illegally. SPAK says that the former director of the ARRSH, Ergys Verdho, together with subordinates Erald Elezi, Genti Raça and Donika Shehu, determined the value of the tender without having the technical project and relying on the data brought by the company itself that would later win the procedure.

Technical and accounting expertise has revealed that the limit fund has been inflated by 590.2 million lek.

The investigation has revealed that Entela Çano was not only favored in the tender for the Korçë-Ersekë road. Even the procedure for supervising the works, with a limited fund of 22.7 million lekë, according to SPAK, was oriented in favor of her company.

"The members of the bid evaluation committee acted contrary to the law, creating unfair advantages and privileges for the company of citizen Entela Çano, 'A&E Engineering' sh.pk," the announcement states.

Another episode is related to the tender for the supervision of the construction of the Erseka water supply and several surrounding villages. According to SPAK, the limit fund was not based on a real market study, but on fictitious offers prepared by the winning company itself.

Even, according to the Prosecution, the technical criteria were written by Entela Çano herself.

The seizure of her cell phone revealed not only direct connections with Mayor Erion Isai, but also her involvement in preparing documents that the Municipality needed to open tenders. Erion Isai's communications with Entela Çano testify to a close relationship between them. Çano had a role in the budgeting of water supply projects.

Erion Isai: Good morning… boss, how are you?

Entela Çano: ​​I'm telling the engineer to bring you the project.

Erion Isai: Tomorrow I will be in Tirana, I need the villages project to pass it to the technical council.

Erion Isai and Çano discuss the reduction of parameters and the amounts that had to be submitted, indicating that the procedure was previously oriented towards cooperation between municipal officials and the winning company.

Erion Isai: I need the list of village names and values ​​for each village by Friday, brother. A fire, I beg you!

Entela Çano: ​​Don't worry, I'll do my best to deliver it to you on Friday.

Regarding the water supply, the investigation revealed that the maximum value of the supervision was 8.3 million lek excluding VAT, which coincides with the procurement limit fund where the winner is declared the operator who offers the bid closest to the minimum value calculated by the contracting authority, but not lower than it. 

As for Erion Isai, SPAK concludes that he not only approved the procedures, but also cooperated in establishing criteria that favored the winning company./ Lapsi.al